Sump pump flows causing icy headache for city crews

TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
As Maryville Street Superintendent Jay Cacek, left, looks on, a city equipment operator uses a front-end loader to scrape a thick sheet of ice off a paved alley across the street from City Hall. The ice accumulated during the recent cold snap as water flowed into the alley after being pumped from the basement of the Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce.

Despite a few days of bitterly cold weather — and the prospect of more low temperatures on the way — the Maryville area has so far experienced a fairly mild winter.

City snowplow and salt crews have only been called into action twice, and the salt sheds at the street maintenance garage at Third and Newton streets were quickly replenished and now stand full, Public Works Director C.E. Goodall said Thursday.

But the seesaw effect of single-digit cold sandwiched in between days of mild weather is causing problems of its own, Goodall said, as an overabundance of groundwater accumulated during one of the wettest Decembers in recent memory makes its way to the surface with the help of basement sump pumps in both residential and commercial buildings.

Years ago, Goodall said, outflow lines from such pumps were often connected to the sanitary sewer system. Since such connections are no longer allowed, groundwater in many cases is simply being pumped out into the street.

When the weather is above freezing, much of that water simply flows downhill to the nearest storm drain. But when the thermometer dips below 32 degrees the resulting ice can create a hazard for both motorists and pedestrians.

Goodall said he was told by Street Superintendent Jay Cacek that there have been reports of icing caused by sump-pumped water at about 70 locations around town.

One of the most visible was in an alley just north of the building containing Downing’s Barber Shop and the newly opened Smiles ’n’ Styles hair salon in the 400 block of North Market Street across the street from City Hall.

Late Tuesday morning, the city dispatched a front-end loader to the alley to scrape away a sheet of two-inch-thick ice at the foot of a short driveway.

Since the alley adjoins a public parking lot, it was feared that someone walking from their car would slip and fall.

Cacek said the water that froze into ice was pumped from the basement of the building next to the barbershop, which contains offices for the newly relocated Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce and Nodaway County Economic Development.

The pump, it was discovered when the chamber moved in October, was one of those improperly hooked into the sewage system. So the outflow was redirected into a pipe connected to the building’s storm gutter, which simply flows into the alley.

Goodall said he plans on working with the chamber to hook the sump pump’s outflow into a storm sewer that runs beneath the alley, and perhaps expand the project to include downspout flows from a couple of other nearby buildings.

He said it has yet to be decided how the work would be funded.

As for dozens of other slick spots around town created by storm gutters and sump pumps, Goodall said city maintenance workers have been doing their best to clear the ice off streets either mechanically or by hand before covering the pavement with melting salt.